Jeremiah 27
1 At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
2 This is what the LORD said to me: “Make straps and crossbars for a yoke, and put them on your neck.
3 Send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon. Send them by the messengers who came to Jerusalem, to Zedekiah king of Judah.
4 Give them this command for their masters: ‘This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: «This is what you are to say to your masters:
5 I made the earth, human beings, and the animals on the face of the earth by my great power and my outstretched arm, and I give it to whoever seems right to me.
6 And now I have handed all these lands over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant. I have also given him the wild animals, to serve him.
7 All nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson, until the time comes for his own land too. Then many nations and great kings will make him serve them.
8 As for the nation or kingdom that will not serve him—Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon—or put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with sword, famine, and plague, says the LORD, until I have destroyed it by his hand.
9 But you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreams, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who tell you, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’
10 For they are prophesying lies to you, to drive you away from your land. I will drive you out, and you will perish.
11 But the nation that puts its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will let remain on its own land, says the LORD. It will farm the land and live there.’”
12 I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah in keeping with all these words: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, serve him and his people, and live.
13 Why should you and your people die by sword, famine, and plague, as the LORD has said will happen to the nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?
14 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who tell you, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’ They are prophesying lies to you.
15 For I have not sent them, says the LORD, and they are prophesying falsely in my name, so that I may drive you out and you may perish—you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”
16 I also spoke to the priests and all this people: “This is what the LORD says: ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets, who prophesy to you, «Look, the vessels of the house of the LORD are being brought back from Babylon now, very soon.» They are prophesying lies to you.
17 Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a ruin?
18 But if they are prophets and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them plead with the LORD of Hosts that the vessels left in the house of the LORD, the house of the king of Judah, and Jerusalem will not go to Babylon.
19 For this is what the LORD of Hosts says about the pillars, the Sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels left in this city:
20 These are the things Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he deported Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.
21 For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says about the vessels left in the house of the LORD, the house of the king of Judah, and Jerusalem:
22 They will be taken to Babylon and remain there until the day I attend to them, says the LORD. Then I will bring them up and return them to this place.’”
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